The Journal
by Airbender-chan
Summary: Danny's family gives him a journal to write all his secrets in.


Danny Fenton sat at the kitchen table at breakfast time. He was twirling his spoon around in some soggy Cheerios when his father and mother came bursting in.

"Hey Dan-o! Your mother and I bought you a present based on the advice of Jazz!" Jack Fenton said with a large smile on his face.

"Your sister mentioned how down and untalkative you are and suggested we buy you a journal!" Maddie Fenton added as she held up a thick brown book filled with empty lined paper. She handed the book to Danny, "You can confess your feelings to it and tell it your secrets and it won't tell anyone because it's a book!" Maddie said clasping her hands together.

Danny looked at the journal, "Uh, I really appreciate the thought and all but, aren't journals a little...girly?" He asked his parents.

"Not at all, a lot of boys right in journals Danny." Jazz said as she walked into the kitchen. She then picked something out of her pocket and tossed it to Danny. "It's a lock and key for your journal. Just in case you want to protect the secrets you put in there." Jazz said with a wink before grabbing her car keys and heading out the door.   
As Danny's parents left the room Danny got up and walked to the sink scraping the remains of breakfast down the drain. As he flicked the switch that turned on the garbage disposal he cast a sideways glance at the journal. "Pfft." He said turning the garbage disposal off. Danny reached for his purple backpack that was hanging on a chair opposite the journal. Danny stopped and looked at the journal.

"Maybe I'll bring it to school, to show Sam and Tuck. I'll bet they'll get a kick out of it." He said shoving the blank book into his backpack. He swung the straps over his arms and onto his shoulders and he walked out the door and headed towards school.

Danny arrived unusually early to school that day. He walked up the stairs and through the large front door of Casper High. As he walked down the hall he looked for his locker. When he found it he looked around, seeing he was the only one in the hallway he made his arm and backpack intangible and he shoved it inside his locker. He then fished his hand around inside it to find the books he needed for the day, along with his journal. Danny found the books and pulled them out. When they became solid he arranged them from largest to smallest. The journal, being the smallest, ended up on top. Danny ran his fingers across its cover until he felt the cold metal of the lock in his hand. His sister's words echoed through his head, "Just in case you want to protect the secrets you put in there." Danny shook his head and spoke to the book, "After today YOU are going in the trash." He said.

"Who's going in the trash?" Sam asked as she walked up to him, "And what are you doing here so early?" She added with a smirk.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?" Danny asked his friend as he turned around to face her.

"Well I always come early to prepare myself for a day of brooding and darkness." Sam said with a laugh, "But anyways, who are you going to throw out?" Sam asked crossing her arms across her chest.

"Not a who," Danny said holding up the journal, "More of a what. My parents bought me this journal so I could 'confess my feelings too it and share my secrets with it'" Danny said using his parents words.

Sam snatched the journal from Danny and looked at it. "I think it's a good idea." Sam said, "I have a poetry diary where I write all my poems showing my dark view on life." She handed the book back to Danny, "I mean think about it Danny, you can slam Dash in this book, as hard as you want and he'd never know. You could complain about your parents in it and they'd never know. You could even write about your ghost fighting adventures, and no one would ever know. The possibilities are limitless." Sam finished and placed her hands on her hips.

Danny sighed heavily, "Whatever." He said as he began to consider what Sam said, "No one would ever know..." he thought.

Sam smirked when she saw she had grabbed his attention. She then turned around to see Tucker walking down the hall. He was slamming his stylus furiously against his PDA.  
"You know Tuck, any harder and you'll break the screen." Danny said putting the journal back with the other books cradled in his arms.

"I know, it's just that I forgot my password to my online journal." Tucker said finally giving up on the password. He slipped the PDA into his pants pocket carefully.

Danny blinked and turned around. "I'm going to class, see you guys there." Danny said as he began to walk down the hall. As he turned the corner he glanced back at his friends only to see Sam explaining the situation to Tucker. Danny scowled as he walked down the hall. "Am I the only one that thinks this thing is stupid?" He asked himself.

Suddenly Danny felt his books being lifted from his hands and as quickly as they left his hands they were slammed against his face. The books were pressed hard against his face for a good 30 seconds before being thrown to the ground. Danny took a deep breath and looked at the floor, his face was searing with pain. When he looked up he saw the snickering face of Dash Baxter.

"That was for forgetting about my plans to beat you up last week Fen-Turd!" Dash shouted about an inch from Danny's face.

Danny took a step backward and waved a hand in front of his nose. "Dude, brush your teeth, or get some tic-tacs or something because your breath REEKS!" Danny said immediately regretted he did as Dash slammed Danny against the nearest locker, sneered at him and then walked away, his posse followed. The girls, Paulina and Star, snickered, while Kwan patted Dash on the back.

Danny frowned and scrambled around the hallway picking up his books. When the bell rang Danny picked up the last book; the journal. Danny could hear Sam's voice in his head, almost mocking him, "you can slam Dash in this book, as hard as you want and he'd never know." Danny shook the voice out of his head and ran to class.

Danny reached Mr. Lancer's classroom just as the door was about to shut, "Close one Mr. Fenton." Mr. Lancer said as he let Danny in. Danny hurried to his seat behind Sam and in front of Tucker. Danny dropped his books on his desk creating a loud slam. Danny sat down and shoved his hand inside his pocket. His hand finally found then small key that Jazz gave him with the lock that morning. Danny pulled the tiny sliver key out of his pocket and shoved it into the lock on the journal. Danny turned the key and the lock clicked open. He slid the lock off the book and turned to the first page. Picking up his pen he began to write: "Man! Dash is such a JERK! It seems that all he lives for is to pick on me! That's like his job or something! I wish I could go ghost and show him what he's dealing with! JUST ONCE I'd like to slam him against a locker, or dump HIS books in the hallway! I'd like to do all the nasty things he did to me to him!" Danny dotted the last exclamation point so hard that he tore through the paper and received several stares from the people around him.

Danny ended up writing the entire day away in his journal. When school was over Danny met up with Sam and Tucker outside.

"And you said journals were stupid." Tucker said to Danny. Danny defended himself, "They are! I wanted to scream all that stuff out, but I wrote it in this journal to save everyone's ears." Danny stated simply.

Sam put a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Whatever you say Danny." Sam said with a smile.  
Danny flinched when he felt the weight of Sam's hand on his shoulder. Suddenly his face turned bright red and he pulled the journal close to him, as if having Tucker and Sam see the front cover would cause the book to expel its secretive contents to the two. Danny took a step away from Sam so that he hand wouldn't be on him anymore.

"I, uh, I have to go." Danny said pulling the journal hard against his chest. "I'll talk to you guys later." Danny added quickly before taking off. Danny sprinted down the street towards his home. He climbed up the front stairs and flung the door open. He ran inside, slammed the door and locked it. Then he climbed the stairs to the second story two at a time and he ran down the hallway to his room. He quickly entered the room and shut the door behind him putting a chair underneath the doorknob to prevent anyone else from entering.

Danny then took a seat on the edge of his bed and placed the journal on his lap. He unlocked it and turned to the first page and read over the page dedicated to Dash. Sliding his thumb under the next page he flipped it over revealing a page with three words written over and over and over again. The same three words were written on the next nine pages. Danny could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he slammed the journal shut. "I knew this journal was a stupid idea." He said as he tied the key to the lock and then slamming it hard in the waste bin. By the time trash day rolled around Danny had completely forgotten about the journal and its contents. Danny brought his trash from his bedroom down to the barrels outside. He plopped it on top and then headed back inside to call Tucker and Sam to invite them over.

Sam was the first to arrive. She was about to walk up the Fenton's front steps when she noticed Danny's journal peeking out from the trash. Sam sighed, "It ended up in the garbage after all." Sam said taking the book from the barrel. Curiosity got the better of Sam when she noticed that the key was attached. She unlocked the journal and the flipped the cover open. She read the first page and smiled at Danny's rantings about Dash. Sam licked her finger and turned the page turning a pink color when she read each three word phrase: "I love Sam."


End file.
